(Ingleside) – Think before you click.

That’s the message Kristen Yates, senior public education officer for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada shared with the grades 7 and 8 students at Rothwell-Osnabruck School (RO) yesterday during her safe social networking presentation entitled “A Public Expression of Private Matters”.

Yates’s 45-minute PowerPoint presentation was chock-full of information regarding the benefits and risks related to social networking. Yates talked in detail about social media Web site policies, email scamming, online scamming and the reasons why young people shouldn’t post photographs or information about themselves online that they don’t want certain people to see.

“A lot of young people think social media is private,” Yates said. “We’re not trying to get people to not use social media. We’re just hoping they learn different behaviours.”

Yates proved her point when she asked the group of students to put up their hands if they had “friends” on Facebook who they didn’t really know. Hands shot up. She then discussed the difference between an “open” and “closed” profile – open meaning that anyone can view your profile without being an approved Facebook friend.

“You don’t know who is looking at your page,” she said. “Facebook has 300 million active users. It’s so important to know people on your friends list. If you don’t listen to anything that we’re saying, we just hope you go home and close your profile.”

Yates also touched upon the issues of identity theft and cyber bullying. She mentioned Megan Meier, the 13-year-old Missouri teen who in 2006 committed suicide after allegedly being cyber-bullied by a peer’s mother who pretended to be a 16-year-old male.  

“You can’t believe everyone is who they say they are online,” said Yates.

Yates was also quick to point out that it’s not just young people who need to learn about smart social networking. She showed a variety of newspaper articles about school officials and teachers who had gotten into trouble because of photos they had posted on the Web.

“Your parents and grandparents didn’t have to worry about this before,” she said.

Yates was contacted to visit RO by guidance counsellor Judy Lamarche. Lamarche had heard about Yates’ previous presentation at General Vanier Intermediate School in Cornwall and thought it would be great to offer at RO.

“I have a daughter in grade 7 and a son in grade 9 who use social media all of the time,” Lamarche said. “Students don’t realize how important it is to protect their privacy and their reputations for the future. I hope this presentation will impact their online behaviour. I knew it would be really relevant to our students.”

Following the presentation, Lamarche’s daughter Emilie and her friends – who said they use MSN Messenger and Facebook daily – discussed their personal experiences with social media and agreed they look at it differently thanks to the presentation.

“One time someone else signed on to my friend’s account and asked me where I lived,” said grade 7 student Kenzie Bergeron.

“I like social media because it’s fun to talk to friends and see what’s new,” said Emilie.

“You can only talk to one person on the phone but many online,” agreed grade 7 student Kebbie Brown. “But when I get home, I’m going to take some of my photos off.”

Yates made a similar presentation to the grades 9-12 students later that day. She said her target audience is 12-18 year-olds but plans are in the works to create presentations for the younger market. For more information about school presentations or online privacy, visit www.youthprivacy.ca.

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For more information please call:

Judy Lamarche

Guidance Counsellor

Rothwell-Osnabruck School

613-537-2454

Kristen Yates

Senior Public Education Officer

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada